First President of the European Council European Union Center of North Carolina EU Briefings, March 2010
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Policy Area: First President of the European Council European Union Center of North Carolina EU Briefings, March 2010 The First President of the European Council Years of soul-searching and institutional introspection preceded the Lisbon Treaty’s coming into force. The new EU structure was expected to resolve the decade-long question: “who do you call when you want to speak with Europe?” For candidates who could pick up that imaginary EU phone, Lisbon created two new top jobs: a High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, and a President of the European Council. While another brief in this series (www.unc.edu/depts/europe/business_media/busbrief1004-high-rep.htm) focuses on Europe's first High Representative, this paper zeros in on the first EU Council President. The election by the EU Heads of State and Government of the little-known Belgian Herman van Rompuy for that post generated surprise and skepticism. But when taking into account the lingering practical institutional challenges that have to be addressed, or when aiming for coordination rather than initiative, Van Rompuy could be considered a successful pick. This brief assesses how the EU came to his election and touches upon what is to be expected of the new EU Council President. On December 1, 2009, the long-awaited Lisbon Treaty came into force. For the EU Council – the EU Heads of State and Government – this means that it has become an official EU institution. And while the rotating six-month country-presidency remains in existence, the Council will now also have a permanent president. In comparison with the sluggish ratification of the Lisbon Treaty, the two newly created high level jobs were filled with unseemly haste. But those that interpreted this speed as a sign of vivacity and eagerness of the “new” EU to play a stronger and more united role in the world were left disappointed. Overall, the negotiation process became one familiar to the “old” EU: consensus and compromise leading to a lowest-common-denominator result. The first President of the European Council was to be rather grey and uncontroversial. In the polite words of Hillary Clinton, the election of Herman van Rompuy constituted “a milestone for Europe and its role in the world”. A more frank reality was harshly brought to the fore by the radical British Member of the European Parliament, Nigel Farage: “We were told that when we had a president, we'd see a giant global political figure, a man who would be the political leader for 500 million people, the man that would represent all of us on the world stage, a man whose job was so important that of course you're paid more than President [Barack] Obama. Well, I'm afraid what we got was you . I don't want to be rude but, really, you have the charisma of a damp rag and the appearance of a low-grade bank clerk and the question I want to ask is: 'Who are you? I'd never heard of you. Nobody in Europe had ever heard of you.’” While Farage was censured for his comments, he had certainly tapped into a vein of opinion across the Union. ___________________________________________________________________________________ The European Union Center of Excellence of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is funded by the European Union to advance knowledge and understanding of the EU and its member countries. 1 Policy Area: First President of the European Council European Union Center of North Carolina EU Briefings, March 2010 An Unclear Job Description Before the first election, the new position of EU Council President was open to almost endless possibilities. As such, its stature within and outside of the EU was still to be defined. The first person to take the job would thus function as a pathfinder, setting the many boundaries and relationships to other EU institutions and other high level positions. In the coming months, personalities and practice are to fill in much of the blanks left open by the general description as provided in the Lisbon Treaty. That description reads as follows: The European Council shall elect its President, by a qualified majority, for a term of two and a half years, renewable once. In the event of an impediment or serious misconduct, the European Council can end the President's term of office in accordance with the same procedure. The President of the European Council: o shall chair it and drive forward its work; o shall ensure the preparation and continuity of the work of the European Council in cooperation with the President of the Commission, and on the basis of the work of the General Affairs Council; o shall endeavor to facilitate cohesion and consensus within the European Council, and; o shall present a report to the European Parliament after each of the meetings of the European Council. The President of the European Council shall, at his level and in that capacity, ensure the external representation of the Union on issues concerning its common foreign and security policy, without prejudice to the powers of the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. The President of the European Council shall not hold a national office. Again, these abstract terms obviously left a substantial area open for further negotiation and concrete practice. For example, blanks remained regarding the way the EU Council President would concretely work with the High Representative, the President of the Commission, the national leaders and the remaining rotating presidency. A strong and well-known personality could have shaped the job into constituting the external face of Europe – a strongly political job, as famously envisaged by the apocryphal Kissinger question. A less ambitious figure could emphasize the more technical and organizational aspects of the job. With Van Rompuy, the choice has been for the latter. As he himself preaches, it is unlikely that the post of EU Council President will be one of much extra- European stature; the practice of the EU Council presidency will be one of facilitation, arrangement and chairmanship. ___________________________________________________________________________________ The European Union Center of Excellence of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is funded by the European Union to advance knowledge and understanding of the EU and its member countries. 2 Policy Area: First President of the European Council European Union Center of North Carolina EU Briefings, March 2010 The Selection Process Up until a month before his election as the first EU Council President, hardly anyone outside of Belgium knew the 62-year old Belgian Prime Minister Van Rompuy. He himself had never sought to be appointed. Also, until shortly before his election, Van Rompuy's alter-image, embodied by the charismatic British former Prime Minister, Tony Blair, had been the most-debated candidate. Then how did Van Rompuy get to be the chosen one? The Lisbon Treaty aimed to make the mechanisms of the EU more democratic and transparent. The unflattering truth is that the appointment process for the new jobs took place with a substantial level of secrecy and horse-trading behind the scenes. One can only guess at the concrete terms of why Van Rompuy stood out above all the others. Nevertheless, for those familiar with the philosophy and practice of the EU, the negotiation process is easy to imagine. The process is one of bargaining with – and balancing between – a series of totemic factors: nationalities, political affiliations, small and large countries, new and old member states, males and females, and then finding the least worst outcome. For the EU Council Presidency, the bargaining was constrained by several recent appointments. In September 2009, the Portuguese social-democrat José Manuel Barroso had been re-appointed for another five-year term as European Commission President. Also, in July 2009, the Polish Jerzy Buzek (European People's Party, EPP) had taken up the job of president of the European Parliament for the coming two-and-a-half years. The distribution of several important portfolios in the new Barroso Commission were also to form constraints, or – as shown – possible input for bargains. That the High Representative (“The EU Foreign Minister”) was to be named at the same time as the EU Council President opened up several other possible outcomes for the negotiations. On the structural side, the Lisbon Treaty provides for the President of the Council to reflect the running sentiment in the European member states and the European Parliament. Thus, the successful candidate should be drawn from a center-right affiliated party. But as mentioned, next to broad calculations of political affiliation, nationalities were to be balanced, as well as the size and geography of the candidate's country. The gender issue should not be forgotten either. And as always, the knowledge of certain languages was an important element to consider. Because, while English is ever more the lingua franca of the Union, in order to satisfy France, fluency in French is an implicit requirement for those eager to obtain high level jobs. Another element in the selection process – but one that is hard to track and quantify – was the judgment of the eminence grise of the EU. The European Commission President Barroso made explicit that the Commission would not accept the idea of a strong Council President. In his eyes, the President of the Council should be a chairperson, limited in extra-Council ambition and powers. Former European Commission President Jacques ___________________________________________________________________________________ The European Union Center of Excellence of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is funded by the European Union to advance knowledge and understanding of the EU and its member countries.